


The Best Summer... like ever

by Karfraegh18



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Time, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-23
Updated: 2010-05-23
Packaged: 2018-09-03 04:13:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8696137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karfraegh18/pseuds/Karfraegh18
Summary: Jared finds a summer job at a local water park, Jensen is his shift manager. Gratuitous use of J2 in water and a nice Chad... written a while back (Summer 08)... thought you may like to see it... x





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the Sinful Desire archivists: this story was originally archived at [Sinful-Desire.org](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Sinful_Desire). To preserve the archive, we began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2016. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [Sinful Desire collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/sinfuldesire/profile).

Westward Adventure park was 50 years old this summer. It wasn’t a huge place; it only really had two big rides and the new water park area. 

 

An old fashioned wooden roller coaster, the Big One, ironically not that big, part of the original park and an enthusiasts dream. A more modern roller coaster, SuperMac, a tangle and jumble of iron and steel, built in the 80s and neon orange in colour. 

 

Lastly the new attraction, the Westward Waterland, a lazy river complete with inflatable rings, a swimming area that included a waterfall and some waterslides and lastly a tropical indoor area called the Cascades.

 

Westward Adventure Park was the old lady of theme parks, attracting mostly locally. It wasn’t the kind of park that people travelled to, in no way could be it be likened to Disneyland; perhaps if you squinted and looked at it in a certain way it could pass for fairly new, it was always clean and tidy and most importantly the entry cost was cheap.

 

So it had a loyal crowd. Grandparents brought their grandchildren here, remembering days when they had visited themselves as young children, when entry was less than a dollar and the summers were free and easy. Parents remembered a $3 entrance fee and the arrival of the new SuperMac neon orange roller coaster, opened by an actor who once had a non-speaking part in Dallas and lived close by.

 

Jared remembered visiting every summer and had attended, as a horny teenager, the grand opening of the Westward Waterland. It had been an event like no other in the middle-sized town of Westward and almost everyone attended from Westward High, Juniors and Seniors alike. That was when Jared first really met Jensen. Jensen Ross Ackles, Senior, voted most likely to get a modelling contract because he was so damn pretty. 

 

Jensen was known at school as totally and unashamedly gay, boyfriends with Alex Winterton of the Westward Wintertons who were owners of the largest house in town and society leaders. Jensen was quite possibly Jared’s complete and total hero, especially as Jared himself was still yet to reveal his sexual leanings to anyone other than his right hand and his imagination. After viewing Jensen holding hands with said Alex Winterton, Jared had then proceeded, rather embarrassingly, to follow him and Alex around the whole of the rest of the day, just watching and learning. 

 

Unfortunately he was spotted, not by Jensen and Alex but by his best friend Chad, who then spent the rest of his day asking Jared why he was following Jensen and not following Alesha with the big tits and the short skirt from their science class. Even at 14 the thought of tits was not on Jared’s list of things to see, something he was not going to reveal to Chad as yet. 

 

"I mean it JT, you are worrying me with this following Jensen homo Ackles around."

 

"Chad," Jared whined, leave me alone, don’t ask me questions, leave me alone

 

"Seriously JT, follow me, I’ve so found the perfect hiding place for the girls changing rooms, keep it quiet though…" Chad’s voice turned into kind of a blah blah blah as Jared moved further away from who he really wanted to spy on.

 

As he had watched Jensen, the much older and much wiser 17 year old, happy in his own skin and not ridiculed for having a boyfriend, it kind of gave him hope for the future. A future that didn’t include getting regularly beaten up for having a boyfriend and certainly didn’t include tits of any shape or size.

 

And now? Now he needed a summer job, he was 19, college bound, and money was so needed. If there was any chance of any kind of social life at College he needed money and he needed it bad, hence the application form that had landed next to his bowl of cheerios one morning two weeks ago.

 

"They’re looking for staff at WAP." Jared’s dad said, "thought you might be interested." Jared looked blank for a few minutes, WAP, and then he put two and two together, eagerly picking up the form.

 

"Seriously?"

 

"Yeah, I got the heads up from Maureen at the office, her husband runs security there, and you have first chance if you want it?"

 

"Cool," and within half an hour he had it filled out as much as he could do and checked it back over, laughing as he imagined how much more he could add to the fairly staid form.

 

Name: Jared Padalecki

 

Age: Old enough

 

Sexual preference: queer, gay, men, not tits, ewww vagina, etc

 

Reason for working; money, tequila and beer

 

Appreciation for the history of Westward Adventure Park: Yeah I’ve been there, like three thousand times

 

He posted it and crossed his fingers, what a freaking awesome way to spend ten weeks of the summer.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 1 … important things like lunch

 

Orientation day was held on a Monday, historically a quiet day at the Park, it involved Jared, Chad and the other new recruits, all of whom Jared recognised from school. They covered health and safety, heart attacks and the associated use of the park’s new defibrillator. Most importantly to Jared they were given the full details of lunch allowances, although it didn’t seem like enough and he made a mental note to blag lunch from his mom on a daily basis.

 

Towards the end of orientation day the other staff turned up, standing behind the new kids. Jared knew that each of the more experienced help, the old timers, the college kids, the ones who had summers under their belt, would be partnered with the newbies. He desperately hoped he had landed the Waterland gig, after all he was, sorry, had been, the captain of the school swim team, and an expert lifesaver, surely that must count for something. Chad stood next to him, he had also been on the swim team as had Katie, Chad’s great unrequited love that had sustained him through the last part of the summer term. Jared smirked at the thought; he really had great hopes that the three of them would be chosen as lifeguards for the newest attraction and the most popular.

 

The guy started calling out names … one of which was…

 

"Waterland erm ….please please please … Ackles, you got … Padalecki, Murray and Cassidy," the Instructor / Manager announced checking his clipboard and nodding to someone standing behind Jared. Ackles? Ackles?

 

Jared turned round. Jensen Ross Ackles, here, in the flesh, working with him … all summer. Jensen Ackles, ex swim team captain, holder of the County and swim team’s fastest 400 freestyle record, until Jared broke it, here, standing here, working with him, his fantasy, Jensen wet, Jensen …

 

Jensen just looked really kind of bored, casting a quick eye over his new recruits, resting ever so slightly longer on Jared, his eyebrow raising. Then with a short nod he left the room, hesitating to see if the newbies followed him. Chad exchanged a grin with Katie, great; there goes his friend for the summer, lost to the lure of blonde hair and the ubiquitous perky boobs. Oh well, he supposed it gave him more time to focus on Jensen tight ass Ackles and his gorgeous freckly face and lose himself in his own fantasies … that would make his summer go quickly.

 

They followed Jensen like ducklings with their momma, Chad murmuring something to Katie and causing her to smile and Jared caught up with Jensen falling into step beside him.

 

"So Padalecki eh?" Jensen said, casting another curious eyebrow-arched look his way.

 

"Yeah … erm …Jared."

 

"Jeff’s brother."

 

"Yeah," great, assigned the ‘Jeff’s brother’ label again

 

"So you’re the one then?"

 

"The one that what?"

 

"Took my swim record?"

 

"Erm … yeah I did," Jared blushed, and Jensen dropped a sly smile, staring down at Jared’s legs.

 

"You have a freaky height advantage," he summarised, laughing. OK he doesn’t seem too annoyed for losing the record.

 

"That must be it," Jared said back, quirking his mouth and shrugging.

 

"Wasn’t it like three seconds or something ridiculous like that," Jared felt his blush extend down his neck.

 

"Hmmmm," was all Jared could think to say, not sure what was considered polite in this situation. Should he be blowing his own trumpet about what a goddam awesome swimmer he was or be making excuses about why he had managed to absolutely decimate Jensen’s record swim.

 

"S’ok dude," Jensen reassured him "I’ll just have to make sure I schedule you all the really shit shifts."

 

Jared looked over at Jensen’s impassive face, not quite sure if he was joking or not, until Jensen turned and gave him the widest grin that had ever grinned … ever.

 

Jared felt his heart flip and his libido perk up an interest.

 

Awesome.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

They had two days before they took over lifeguard duties at the Waterland in full. Jensen reported to management but other than that any and all decisions fell on his shoulders. It was the way it had always been. Westward Park was almost like the place that bridged school and college, college and real life. It took in boys and girls and turned them into responsible young adults; capable of making decisions for themselves, armed with memories of singularly perfect summers, enough to keep the going until they reached 30. 

The Park expected perfect attendance and hard work and promised job satisfaction and the most awesome summer evenings when everyone had left and the park became a playground for the staff. Jared discovered this on day 4 of week 1, his first real day on the job.

 

Jensen had split them into pairs, against his better judgement pairing up Chad and Katie with a dire warning about fraternisation on the job, and leaving Jared all for himself. Because if he was honest, Jared was one tall drink of water, a straight drink of water, but nevertheless very easy on the eyes, and Jensen could admit to having a small crush on the younger man. For every inch of Jared’s six four frame Jensen could find something to look at. He had a swimmers body, all clean shape and tight muscle and that was something surely any self-respecting single gay guy would ogle. 

He had actually been there when Jared had cracked his swim record, had clapped and cheered with the rest and then silently wished he could get closer as Jared had heaved himself out of the pool water carving down the hard planes of his body, watching with his tongue virtually hanging out as Jared reached up to remove his swim cap and slick long hair off his face, his face splitting into a huge grin and his hands windmilling like an idiot, high on the win. Jensen still remembered that day with vivid clarity, the stuff of many of his alone time fantasies thereafter.

 

After the debacle of the whole JensenAlex thing Jensen was happy to spend the summer crushing on a straight guy, safer that way.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 2 … SuperJen

 

They had a routine now, the four of them, ‘A’ shift. Between them and shifts ‘B’ ‘C’ and ‘D’ they covered 10 –6 every day, on rotation. This ensured all who used Waterland would be safe. This Jensen said with his hands in hips and his chest thrust out, resulting in Jared and Chad exchanging long suffering oh my god what an idiot we would never say that looks and Katie collapsing in a fit of giggles.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 3 … The ‘get the gay guy prank’

 

"So I asked her out."

 

"Hmmmm."

 

"She said yes."

 

"Hmmmm."

 

"But then she told me that she was really an alien and had been sent here to conquer the world one hot ass at a time."

 

"M’okay."

 

"She said I was the first, but you are next, she is gonna suck your brains out and then move onto Jensen."

 

"Hmmmm."

 

"JAY," Jared looked up from his book, blinking

 

"Wha?"

 

"Are you listening to anything I say?"

 

Jared looked a bit uncomfortable at being caught out. "Katie, asking out, aliens," he summarised briefly, shrugging "Sorry."

 

"Good book then?" Chad asked, turning the book over in Jared’s hand and frowning at the title The US Education System. "Jeez man, at least hide a skin mag in it or something," He smirked and closed the book even as Jared tried to reach for it, putting it behind him out of reach "I’m sorted … let’s talk about you and Jensen and your unrequited gay love."

 

It was Jared’s turn to frown, "I’ve tried," he started firmly "he isn’t interested."

 

"Look no offence Jay, but you are one big affectionate cuddle machine with everyone, maybe Jensen hasn’t noticed ‘cos you aren’t treating him special enough?" Jared blinked at Chad; maybe for the first time in Chad’s life he was right? Maybe Jared wasn’t focusing enough of the essence of Jared on Jensen himself. In short maybe his flirting just wasn’t working cos he was spreading himself too thin? Jared quickly made his mind up to concentrate on Jensen; he only had another eight weeks to make something happen with Jensen, he needed to focus.

 

He started small. Only bringing Jensen drinks, not Jensen and four others who caught him on the way to the concession stand; saving a place in the food queue for Jensen, not Jensen and Jensen’s friends who all looked mighty put out; Touching Jensen with considered targeted touches, not hugging everyone in sight.

 

Which is why, given how hard he was trying to flirt; the next conversation he had with Jensen was a bit strange and not at all what he expected.

 

"Are you winding me up?" Jensen started, a confused expression on his face "Is this some sort of get the gay guy prank?" Jensen cast an eye around him, looking for witnesses or cameras, "all this touching and flirting? What are you trying to do? Is this a ChadJared thing? Who else is in on it, is this some kind of big laugh? ‘cos you know this has happened before don’t you? I’m not gonna rise to it, so fuck you Jared Padalecki, I didn’t think you were that sort of guy." Jensen’s voice rose steadily higher and higher and louder and louder, and Jared winced as he tried to interrupt but couldn’t get a word in edgeways.

 

"Jensen I - "

 

"There is no need to say sorry, I can get you reassigned - "

 

"No, no Jensen stop," Jared’s voice hit new decibels, enough to be heard over Jensen and suddenly all around them stopped in their tracks and just stared. Both men looked around, suddenly realising there were in the middle of the food hall. Carefully Jared laid down his tray and relieved Jensen of his.

 

"Jensen Ackles, we need to talk," he said quietly and firmly and grabbing Jensen by the hand he led him through the watchful groups of staff and into the resources room at the back pulling the door behind him. As soon as the door shut Jared pushed Jensen up against the wall, right up in his face.

 

"Being subtle obviously doesn’t work with you," Jared started simply, moving his hands against the wall bracketing Jensen’s face. " I kinda like you and kinda being gay as well I thought we could get together," he waited as realisation hit Jensen and watched his mouth fall open ready to speak. He stopped him talking by dropping a sudden kiss on Jensen’s stunned mouth, taking advantage and darting his tongue in to taste coffee and something uniquely Jensen, leaning in and pasting his entire body length against Jensen, trapping him against the wall. 

The kiss intensified, Jensen’s hands starting to push Jared away, then hovering, uncertain, before coming up to rest on Jared’s strong swimmer’s arms. Jared’s own hands moved from the wall to tilt Jensen’s face for better access and they concentrated on kissing, with all the clumsy warm enthusiasm of a first kiss. It could have been seconds, it could have been minutes, Jensen was damned if he knew, he just knew that kissing Jared was definitely a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

 

Finally they pulled apart, both flushed and breathing heavily

 

"So …" began Jensen " … not a windup then?"

 

"No Jensen, no joke."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 4 … First date. Location: Cascades 8pm

 

Hmmm interesting.

 

What to wear? Phone Chad … get advice. Nah, on second thoughts remembering what Chad generally dressed like out of his lifesavers uniform, make your own decision what to wear. Jeans, T-shirt, button down, green, choose green, nah, Jensen wears green, blue, wear blue.

 

He was ready a whole hour early. 

 

They had arranged to meet back at Cascades at the back entrance, Jensen assuring him that he had access after hours. They met at 8; a brief kiss and then Jensen used a master key to get in through the gate.

 

The park was deserted, empty and ghost town like, the rides quiet, the concession stands shut and boarded. Jared felt a little nervous as a shiver ran down his spine. He got the same feeling when he visited the reservoir with the sunken village, kind of eerie and unnatural. The park should be full of life and laughter and noise.

 

Jensen looked over; saw Jared looking a little uncertain and reached out to grasp his hand "bit freaky isn’t it."

 

"Tell me about it."

 

"You wait, it gets worse when it is dark."

 

"Reassuring."

 

"Wimp."

 

"Race ya," and with that Jensen stripped off Jeans and tops, and down to his boxers dived into the deep end of the pool, rising to the surface and treading water, smiling at a nervous looking Jared. He waited and watched as Jared weighed up getting caught by people in authority against the sheer love of life itself, that meant he would dive in after Jensen. 

 

Life won.

 

In seconds he was next to the older man treading water and leaning his head back to smooth his long hair away from his face.

 

"So you keep in shape then?" Jared smirked "Think you could take me on?"

 

"Yeah, but I’d need a ten second start just cos of your freaky long legs."

 

"S’not gonna happen." Jared responded quickly, eager to get on and race against the one person he had admired in the pool, the only person who could potentially not only catch up with him but beat him as well.

 

"Ten lengths … Go," Jensen shouted, carving gracefully through the water to begin a fast crawl taking him to the other end, Jared didn’t hesitate; pushing himself after the shorter man, instinct taking over. It seemed they were evenly matched - Jensen must still be keeping up the training - but in the end it was Jared who won by a clear distance, and didn’t he let Jensen know it. Raising his hand in salute and starting a mock victory speech, which Jensen quickly swallowed in a heated kiss, before pulling back and swimming to the side, grabbing two of the large rubber rings that were used to float along the Lazy River.

 

"C’mon man, lets float,", he said encouragingly. Jared eyed the rings doubtfully; unsure that six four of muscled Texan would fit, and then spent five minutes trying to climb in, cursing Jensen and his short stubby, yet curiously gorgeous, legs as he saw Jensen managed it first try.

 

Jensen was, to put it bluntly verging on hysterical, as he laughed at Jared’s somewhat pathetic attempts to settle in the ring, his laughter infectious, until Jared couldn’t help but join in, making it doubly difficult to get up and in. In the end Jensen took pity on him, holding the ring and helping Jared in, until at last the two of them laid back, staring up a the Texas sky, relaxed and happy and just ever so slightly cold.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 5 … Halfway there … but sort of not

 

ChadKatie was now officially an item. Nobody knew exactly what a beautiful intelligent girl like Katie saw in Chad. OK he was definitely a looker in his own blonde vacuous kind of way, but intellectually they were streets apart. Despite all the staff gossip, they carried on regardless and Katie found in Chad the one thing that all her other super intelligent college boy partners never had … the ability to make her smile and laugh until her sides ached.

 

JensenJared was also officially an item. Unlike the whole ChadKatie thing everybody could see what Jensen and Jared would see in each other. They were a sickeningly, achingly, perfect couple in everyone’s eyes. Gifted with gorgeousness well off the most gorgeous ever scale, with a whole side order of pretty thrown in for Jensen and a side order of flicky haired kid on Jared’s side. They hugged in front of the other staff, they held hands, they just enjoyed being together, laughing and joking and it was infectious. Everyone was happy around JensenJared, or J2 as they had started to be called, and the summer started to fly by. 

 

Jensen had held back with Jared, even more so when Jared revealed that at the age of 17 he was still a virgin, had really kind of waited until he could engineer a way to meet Jensen. Jensen wasn’t sure what freaked him out the most … the dedicated way in which Jared had followed Jensen’s life, certain they would end up with each other one day, or the fact it would be up to Jensen to initiate Jared into sex should they choose to move to the next level. So far they had stuck to the bits they did best, the pushing and the rubbing and … oh god … the kissing, Jared seemed like a natural top, which was good given he had four inches in height and a good twenty pounds on Jensen. It meant he could manhandle the older man, and god didn’t that just tick the biggest kink box that Jensen had. 

 

Tonight as they left work agreeing to meet back at Cascades at eight Jared had asked Jensen to do something that just didn’t sound right coming out of Jared’s mouth. "Touch me, Jensen, tonight … kiss kiss … touch me."

 

So they met and they kissed and Jared ticked the kink box by virtually lifting Jensen and pushing him against his favourite wall, burying his face in Jensen’s neck, kissing and biting small marks into Jensen’s pale freckled skin. Taking Jared at his word Jensen’s hands moved south; not stopping at the waistband of his sweats … sweats not jeans, easy access, I love this man …and pushing down until he met hard solid strength and the touch of soft silky skin. 

Jared paused in the biting, letting out a strangled moan against Jensen’s neck … Jen … and Jensen started to move his hand, twisting pulling, running his fingers lower and then higher, moving his legs so Jared could settle around him, hearing Jared’s breath hitching, pulling gently with his teeth at the pulse point at the base of Jared’s throat and then leaning back exposing his own neck to Jared’s insistent sucking and then feeling the kisses change to loose and uncoordinated, as Jared was lost to the white out sensations, losing himself hot and wet over Jensen’s hand, Jensen losing it seconds after, pulled along by the gasps and moans from Jared’s throat, pressing and pushing his own erection against the hard line of Jared’s hip. Jensen pulled back, lifting Jared’s bowed head, in awe of the blissed out expression on the younger man’s face.

 

"Swim?" he asked softly, one quick way to clean off

 

"Ewww," Jared wrinkled his nose at the cold feeling invading his boxers.

 

"Hey, we have filters," Jensen reassured him

 

"Nice."

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 6 … Not quite Baywatch, but sorta getting there

 

"Jen."

 

"Mmmm," Jen was floating away from Jared in his ring lazily sculling with his left hand and turning circles.

 

"This is like the last year of college for you, yeah?"

 

"Well all depends… if I get the grades I’m gonna push for my masters."

 

"At UT?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Which campus?"

 

"San Antonio probably."

 

"So .. erm … where you are now then?"

 

"Yeah, their masters programme for sports therapy is a good one, I’d be stupid to change now."

 

"We’ve never talked about this before." Jared bit his lower lip and Jensen must have heard something in his voice as he made more of an effort to scull with both hands to end up next to Jared.

 

"Wassup?"

 

"I’m going to UT, the San Antonio campus, as well," Jared started uncertainly, feeling like he really was coming over as a creepy stalker now.

 

"That’s cool dude," Jensen said smiling "Do you have your room set yet?"

 

"Halls I think."

 

"Share with me and Mike and Tom," cos Alex is well out of the picture

 

"Really?" Really? No shit?

 

"Problem is we only have the three bedrooms - "

 

"S’ok, I can sleep on the sofa if I need to," Desperate much?

 

"I was maybe thinking …"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"You could share with me?" Jensen sounded hopeful

 

"Really?" Oh my god, really?

 

"Yeah, really, if you felt like you - "

 

Jared leaned over tipping himself out of the ring and pulling on Jensen until the older man joined him in the water and then he pulled Jensen up against him, capturing his lips in a hot possessive kiss.

 

"Yes," Jared said simply, yes, yes, yes, damnit, yes, he added in his head

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The idiot incident, as it will be called forever, happened on Jensen and Jared’s watch. It involved Mr and Mrs Derwent and their precocious son Jamie who felt that standing up on the ring and balancing was a clever way of riding the rapids that led to the lazy river. 

 

He was the type of child that read signs and then did the opposite. Endearing, his parents called it, stupid, Jensen called it, as he fished the unconscious boy from the water and laid him flat on the side before falling to his knees to resuscitate him, Jared followed the other part of the protocols, dialling 911, alerting management and the other lifeguards and then closing down the pool area with Chad and Katie’s help. 

 

He then joined Jensen, who had at least got the small boy breathing again. Jamie’s mother cried, Jamie’s father blustered about safety and suing and do you know how much money I have I could ruin you, until Jared calmly pointed to the sign that quite clearly said "No standing,". 

 

Then Mr Derwent decided the best use of his time was to comfort his distraught wife, throwing angry glances over at Jared who stood next to Jensen his arms folded and with a face like thunder. Just try it, just try it was the litany in Jared’s head as he pulled himself to his full, quite intimidating height, and waited for the paramedics to arrive.

 

The Derwents and their now conscious son disappeared off site in a flurry of excitement, leaving Jensen to decide whether or not to open up the Waterland again with only half an hour to go until normal closing. He seemed quiet and withdrawn and Jared watched him concerned.

 

"I’m staying closed." He finally announced and put up the requisite signs. Jared did his bit and then took to following Jensen about, much to Jensen’s annoyance. 

 

Finally he stopped and turned to face him "Jared, what do you want?"

 

Jared looked a bit hurt. "I’m just wondering if you’re OK?" he said hesitantly.

 

"I’m fine."

 

"You don’t seem fine."

 

"I said I’m fine."

 

"You saved that boy Jen, you did everything right."

 

"Would you believe me if I said that I had something else on my mind?"

 

"Yeah…" he started doubtfully, "…like what?"

 

"That boy’s parents, threatening to use their money to get to us, to make us pay for some imagined slight."

 

"They soon realised, when I pointed out the - "

 

"No Jay. It’s not them really. I just had flashbacks from the whole Alex mess."

 

"Alex. Your ex Alex…"

 

"Yeah, do you know something, his parents offered me money to stay away when he was going to college."

 

"Money? Weren’t you up to their high standards?"

 

"Son of a car salesman? Nah, nowhere near good enough."

 

"But you didn’t take the money?"

 

"No, of course not…" Jensen was quick to defend himself even though he knew Jared wasn’t really questioning his decision, just stating fact. "… but he did. He took money to move to another more socially acceptable college, away from me … and do you know what? He never looked back once."

 

"I’m sorry Jen."

 

"Don’t be. It was a lesson learned, it was just … well it was only like five months ago it happened."

 

"So you’re on the rebound then?" Jared smirked

 

"Nah, I just think that maybe now … now I am on the right path."

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 7 … Raiders of the Lost Ark vs The Empire Strikes Back

 

"Harrison Ford," Jared started, in reply to Jensen’s best actor question

 

"Empire or Raiders," Jensen prompted

"Empire, oh my god, Empire, with the carbon freezing thing."

 

"Raiders, snakes … ewww snakes."

 

"Alien or Aliens?"

 

"Alien."

 

"Nah, Aliens, more creepy, Alien, I mean you could see the wires, and the guy in the Alien suit."

 

"Directors cut?"

 

"No, original."

 

"Shawshank or Green Mile?"

 

"Shawshank, the whole poster thing, just oh god, it was soooo cool."

 

"I love you," Jensen said suddenly. 

 

Jared blinked, trying to back peddle past films to the man stood opposite him. "I love you too." He said simply.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Week 8 … Oh my God Jay, what am I gonna do?

 

ChadKatie had moved up a notch, Chad finally breaking, after being asked once, and announcing to Jared that yes, they had gone all the way, and yes, it was awesome, and yes they’d been at it for four weeks.

 

It was only two days later that a very grey Chad cornered Jared in the food hall and pleaded for five minutes in the back room. Jared cast a quick look around for Jensen but couldn’t see him as Chad hustled him past the door and shut it behind him.

 

"Jay, what am I gonna do?" and then it spilt, like a soap story it fell from Chad’s lips in graphic detail.

"Pregnant." Jared summarised in one word.

"Shit Jay, it was once, once without a condom."

 

"Chad - "

 

"Don’t, don’t go there." Chad buried his face in his hands.

 

"What did she say? Has she tested yet?"

 

"No, she says she’s always regular and … shit Jay."

 

"What did you say to her."

 

"I didn’t … I ran … ran to find you."

 

"So the girl you’ve been sleeping with tells you she may be pregnant with your baby and you do what? Run away?"

 

"Well, kinda …"

 

"Chad, get out of here, find her, and tell her you’ll be with her all the way. Cos man I’ll be with you all the way," Chad looked relieved. "Go, go find her."

 

"She went to find Jensen."

 

"So we find Jensen and we’ll sort it."

 

Arguments, accusations, crying, hugging, home truths, common sense and finally, calm. 

 

The pregnancy test turned out to be negative.

 

Within two days Chad and Katie had decided to be just good friends.

 

Jared just held Chad when he cried, tried to be the best friend he could be. Jensen gave the younger man the time to help Chad, without jealousy or interference.

 

Jared loved his boyfriend a little more each day.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 9 … Alex and the big bed

 

It was a Wednesday when it happened. It was a rare day off for Jensen’s team and they had decided to make the most of it, just needing to grab food and then hitting the lake for swimming and beer.

 

Lake Verney was a man-made reservoir, the same reservoir that freaked Jared out with its water covered houses. To think people lived where there was now a basin of deep dark water just sent shivers down his spine, but for Jensen he was making the effort.

 

They stayed near the feeder river as opposed to the lake itself and were half way through a conversation on the merits of tomatoes when Jensen just stopped. His face like stone, his vivid green eyes fixed on a point somewhere over Jared’s shoulder.

 

"Jen?" Jared asked and swivelled to see what had caught Jensen’s attention, seeing nothing more than a group of boys about their ages walking down the main path to the lake. "Jen?" he said again, softly.

 

"Alex," Jensen said carefully. Jared looked over again finally recognising Alex, his arm slung around the shoulders of a blonde girl, and a few other kids from Jensen’s School year as they moved nearer. Jared could feel Jensen tense the closer the boys got. Was Alex going to say anything? Was Jensen going to say anything?

"Alex," Jensen said in a friendly tone, nodding.

 

"Jensen," Alex replied awkwardly, casting a critical eyes over Jared "Jared," he added almost as an afterthought.

 

And then the group moved on, Alex looking back once to see Jared take Jensen’s hand in a tight grip. Jensen watched the group leave and then turned to Jared his eyes stormy and slitted.

 

"Bastard," he said, no small amount of venom in his voice

 

"Yeah," was all Jared said, not feeling safe enough to add anything else.

 

"I have an idea."

 

"Yep?"

 

"Let’s go visit Mike."

 

"M’okay."

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Of course visiting Mike meant Jared seeing his new term accommodation for the first time. Mike had stayed at the house over the summer as well, getting a summer job in a local newspaper office to boost his extra curricular experience. Tom had gone home, but from what Jensen said he seemed to be a nice enough guy, and was apparently only a couple of inches shorter than Jared himself. Mike, on the other hand, was shorter than Jensen, with a shaved head, piercings and tattoos, studying journalism and was, to put it bluntly, a little weird at first meeting.

 

"So Jay-red …" he started slyly " … you’re the one sleeping on our sofa?"

 

"I thought … I - " Jared stuttered, this was awkward, and he looked to Jensen for help.

 

"Mike, I told you Jared is sharing with me," Jensen smiled fondly, before punching Mike on the arm with no small amount of force. Mike staggered to the wall, looking offended, before breaking into a manic grin and dragging Jared over to a closed door, opening it and pushing him through.

 

"I’m going out Jen, we’re going to print tomorrow, and I have articles you know … I’ll be a while," the last added with a smirking knowing grin on his face. And then he left, a flurry of movement and banging doors behind him.

 

Jared stood where Mike had pushed him, in the open doorway of what he assumed was Jensen’s room. It was a good-sized room, larger than his room at home, and was dominated by a bed, easily big enough to accommodate a stretching Padalecki. There were two desks under the window, one of which was set up with a PC. He catalogued shelving for books, a big wardrobe and again with the bed that looked kind of inviting. He sensed Jensen behind him and leant back as Jensen circled his arms around him.

 

"This OK?" The older man said quietly

 

"This is really cool," Jared replied turning in his boyfriend’s arms and raising his hands to touch Jensen’s face, hazel eyes filled with smiles and a little uncertainty. "Are you sure?" he added

 

"Very sure, more sure about this than anything." Jensen reassured him, a soft smile on his face. Gently Jared dropped a small kiss on the older man’s soft lips then pulled back with a wicked grin on his face and a full helping of puppy eyes.

 

"Can we try the bed?" he asked hopefully.

 

In answer Jensen just guided him back until his knees touched the bed, and with a final push Jared lay sprawled on the covers Jensen swiftly following.

 

"I was hoping you’d say that …" he moaned heatedly into Jared’s open mouth "…so hoping."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Week 10 … Hellos, goodbyes and everything in between

 

The last week at Waterland was kind of quiet. Schools had gone back now, which just left college kids to visit, but college kids were organising college so that cut down the potential visitor market drastically. It had always been Jensen’s favourite week, quieter, more relaxed. The park kids organised the last night barbecue and invited families and friends, it was the wind down to college and with Jared at his side things were just that much more special.

 

"So the record is 8 burgers then," Jared mused, sharing his new found information with his indulgently smiling boyfriend.

 

"Yeah, but it took two days to clear out the lazy river after the eight burgers came back up."

 

Jared snorted "Lightweight."

 

"Jared," Jensen started to say

 

"I could so do ten, and keep them down."

 

"Jared - "

 

"Seriously Jen, ten would be easy - "

 

"Stop," Jensen put a hand over his boyfriends mouth "I have every faith that you could indeed break the final barbecue record of eight burgers in one sitting, I am sure you could do ten, I don’t doubt you could do twelve but…" Jensen paused, still not moving his hand from Jared’s mouth "… you are not going to be doing that."

 

"Jeeeennn," Jared whined

 

"No Jay, cos if you do that, then I can’t do what I had planned and I reckon you’d like what I have planned better." Jared’s eyes widened and Jensen removed his hand.

 

Immediately "Whatyagotplanned?" tumbled from Jared’s mouth, Jensen shook his head

 

"Nuh uh, not telling."

 

"Clue?" Jared pleaded in that kid before Christmas kind of way.

 

"You, me, alone," was all Jensen said enigmatically and quirking his eyebrow in that I’ve got a secret kind of way, Jared swallowed, alone time with Jensen, taking their relationship to the next step, would so be worth not winning the burger eating competition, so worth it.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The last day dawned hot and sunny and positive. Jared rolled over in his bed yawning widely and almost running to the shower in his eagerness to get the day started.

 

"Bye mom, bye dad," he called in passing as he left the house at a gentle jog finding himself at the gates of Waterland in plenty of time to beat a yawning Jensen.

 

He pulled Jensen into a minty breath good morning kiss, holding him tight and deepening the kiss, enjoying the soft lazy way that Jensen clutched his shirt and tilted his head to allow Jared better access.

 

Jared pulled back enough to murmur good morning, Jensen just smiled sleepily and leaned up for another kiss. This patented Padalecki way of fully waking Jensen up was starting to become a habit; one that Jared promised himself would happen every day, and Jensen just went with the flow until passions started to rise and Jared pulled away reluctantly.

 

"You awake now?" he asked softly

 

"Yeah," Jensen replied clutching his boyfriends navy blue lifesaver shirt tightly, not wanting to let go.

 

"We ready to do this thing?" Jared smiled, his exuberance catching

 

"Yeah, let’s go do that whole saving lives thing," Jensen laughed and Jared caught the laugh with a messy wet kiss.

 

"I love you shorty," he said pulling back

 

"I love you too stretch," Jensen replied and with that they went straight to the staff canteen looking for breakfast.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The barbecue had been going for two hours after the park shut, beer and food flowing freely, the happy camaraderie that had built throughout the summer being extended to school and college with exchanged phone numbers and email addresses 

 

Chad was going to the Dallas campus of UT studying animal husbandry, Jared had always joked that Chad should work with animals given they were on a similar intellectual level; Katie had been offered a modelling contract after winning some TV competition, to which Chad proudly announced that he had dated a model, getting smacked by a laughing Katie for his trouble. Katie was still deciding between that and a college course in Mathematics, but in general people thought she’d be mad not to at least give modelling a go for a year. 

Jared had settled on English a long time ago his dream of becoming a teacher still there in his head. He was going to really miss Chad, miss not seeing the idiot every day, miss his strange outlook on life and girls, miss his smiles, miss his complete acceptance of Jared and what Jared did with his life, just miss him. JaredChad had started at age 2, Chad assured Jared it wouldn’t stop now and could Jared please put him down because he was getting airsick. 

 

The party wound down at just before midnight, for most staff it was quite possibly the last time a parent imposed curfew had to be adhered too and there was a melancholy feeling to the small groups of teenagers moving toward the lights of the town and home. Finally only two remained. Jensen and Jared, moving quietly in and out of darkened passages and emerging into the now still lazy river, holding hands, clutching at the support they gave each other.

 

"You ready for this?" Jensen asked quietly

 

"Ready for what?"

 

"Are you ready for the rest of our lives to start?" Jared nodded, feeling the strange prickle of tears at the back of his eyes.

 

"Yeah …" he started softly "… I am so ready."

 

Jensen pulled at his hand, kissing him gently.

 

"You know what though Jen … this has been the best summer … like ever."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

College week 1 - The rest of their lives

 

 

The End


End file.
